A crazy foodie lost in the streets of London! Base: London. Reach: Worldwide! Eat|Cook|Travel

May 20, 2014August 8, 2014

Flesh and Buns, Covent Garden WC2H 9LX

It all started with a tweet. My friend was craving ramen and I’d walked past (as well as heard of) Bone Daddies in Soho several times so thought why not try these guys. A tweet later I find out these guys don’t take any bookings but their sister restaurant Flesh and Buns do. Not exactly ramen but my friends happily compromised. So a group of 2 very quickly became a group of 4 VERY hungry individuals. I didn’t know what to expect. I’d, of course, read and heard about Flesh and Buns but wasn’t sure whether my fussy buddies would enjoy the food. I had three manly tummies to feed people- so was under a lot of pressure! 😛

Our table happily booked (thanks to the power of social media and Bone Daddies/Flesh and Buns’ social person/team), we got there bang on time. I love Covent Garden! So many amazing places to eat have opened up, nicely tucked away in the streets. Thankfully the mundane touristy food chains are getting some well-deserved competition! London has such amazing food scene, I don’t know why anyone would ever go to a Bella Italia and the likes for food. Do your research before heading out to eat in London, people! Time Out is a great way to find something cheap and cheerful or something to splash your cash on.

Anyway, we got to the location and made our way downstairs. We were warmly greeted by their staff and taken to our table. The place tends to get quite busy so always best to book. There are booths, tables of 4 or even a long table going through the middle if you’re a big party. And you can also see all the action happening in the kitchen. After we’d ordered our drinks, we proceeded to swiftly go through the menu. It’s never a good idea starving yourself before you go out because you want to order everything!!

SOFTSHELL CRAB with jalapeño mayo £9.50

All of their menu is designed in a way that you can easily share. No selfish pigs allowed on the table! 😛 Since there were 4 of us, we decided to order quite a few small hot plates and then order two mains from the Flesh and Buns section. I LOVE soft shell crab so made sure we ordered that along with Prawn Tempura (sadly doesn’t seem to be on the menu any more), Korean Fried Wings (MAKE SURE you order these bad boys) and Chicken Yakitori.

This dinner was with one of my closest and dearest friends and whenever we are together, we DON’T shut up. But this is a first ladies and gentlemen, when three grown men just shut up and ate their food! OH yeah!

Where do I start?? The soft shell crab was crispy from the outside and soft from the inside. The japapeno mayo was a perfect accompaniment. I could’ve had several servings of this on my own. The prawn tempura was again super crispy on the outside and there was an audible crunch when you bit into it. I don’t know why it’s not on their menu now. Bring it back!

KOREAN FRIED WINGS with spicy sour sauce, sesame £5.8

One of my favourite small plates, Korean Fried Wings are THE BEST!! Normally when you fry chicken wings and slather them with sauce, they tend to get really soggy. But not these ones. Despite a generous serving of the spicy sour sauce, the chicken wings were still really crispy and the spicy sauce just took it to another level! I would highly recommend you order these. Chicken Yakitori was another small plate really well done. The chicken was tender, juicy and full of flavour. Not sure what powdery spice was sprinkled on top, but it just made this yakitori really delicious!

CHICKEN YAKITORI, shichimi pepper £4.5

While we were coping with the onslaught on these mouthwatering small plates, we commenced our small talk (haha!) as a filler before part 2 of our food come. It was long when a piping hot steam bowl of Bone Daddies home made buns made their way to our table. These glistening, white, fluffy and soft pieces of bun are a carb-free dieter’s WORST nightmare! 😛 This is where the real fun begins. We had order the salmon teriyaki and lamb chops (again, they don’t seem to be on the menu any more 😦 ) to share between four of us. So you just chop up the meat and fill your buns as you wish. The food we ordered was more than enough.

I had the crispy duck leg on another visit after (khe khe khe!) and it was delicious!! The duck leg was cooked to perfection and the sour plum soy was the perfect combination.

All in all! This meal and visit was 10/10 from the staff to the vibe to the food- it was brilliant. I will go back any time! I’ve recommended this place to many of my friends and they have not been disappointed. Flesh and Buns do run a lot of offers, an express menu as well as a brunch menu. So please do follow them on Twitter (@FleshandBuns) and check out their website for their menu.